According to Golf Course Superintendents Association of America statistics, there has been an occupy movement going on in the golf course maintenance industry.

That is to say, the role of the golf course superintendent is occupied by men at the rate of 99-1, a trend basically unchanged for the past five years. Naturally, this begs the question, “Why aren’t there more women in the role of the golf course superintendent?”

“I think it’s partly due to the lack of exposure to the career opportunity,” says Tracey Holliday, superintendent of Sterling Farms Golf Course in Stamford, Conn. “If a woman has never played golf, caddied or been around people who expose them to the profession, then they won’t ever realize such a career path exists. Being a golf course superintendent requires tremendous dedication, time, physical and mental toughness. It’s not for everyone — male or female.”

Over on the West Coast, Patty Reedy, South Course superintendent at The Los Angeles Country Club, agrees with the hypothesis that through lack of exposure to the game, few women realize turf management is a viable career option. “Women, and people in general, aren’t typically drawn to this sort of a career,” says Reedy, who’s been the top turf manager at Los Angeles CC for the last five years. “And like many, they probably don’t even know it’s a career possibility.”

Given the odds, is the challenge for a woman to achieve superintendent status, not to mention at a top flight facility, insurmountable? Reedy says being a minority in any industry comes with challenges.

“I don’t see that it’s something one can’t overcome with hard work, determination and an unapologetic attitude about being a minority,” says Reedy, who earned her agronomy degree from Texas A&M University.

And perhaps a sign of more modern times, Reedy says her career path wasn’t lined with naysayers offering discouraging advice about managing golf turf and achieving a superintendent’s position.

“My experience has been overwhelmingly positive,” Reedy says. “From my mentors and professors starting out in college to my current boss, Russ Myers, I have been encouraged, guided and supported. In fact, when my own self-confidence was lacking, it was these men who saw something I couldn’t see and urged me on.”

On Mackinac Island, Wawashkamo Golf Club is Michigan’s longest continuously operated golf course and in 1996 was named by Golf Digest as one of “America’s Historic Golf Landmarks.”

Superintendent Karen O’Dell, a 1993 graduate of Michigan State University’s turf program, says she hasn’t received much flak about being a woman in a “man’s profession.”

“It’s never been an issue one way or another,” she says. “I’ve worked hard just as the guys have throughout my career and have never asked for any special treatment. The grass doesn’t know that I’m a female and it gives me fits and good days just like everyone else.

“Most people think it’s pretty cool when I tell them I’m a golf course superintendent,” she says. “I get comments about how lucky I am to work on a golf course every day and get to enjoy Mother Nature. I have to agree with them.”

Inside the clubhouse, players are often surprised that the role of the superintendent is being managed by a woman. Like the superintendent profession itself, memberships and clientele in general are predominantly men, so it can come as a bit of a surprise for some that the ‘keeper of the green’ is a lady.

On the island at Wawashkamo, which in Indian literally means “walk a crooked trail,” O’Dell says, “Having such a small staff (we joke and say we are the “maintenance two” – not the maintenance crew – just me and my assistant Ron Morden), we love the club and the history behind it. The members treat us very well and appreciate our efforts. We even play in the Wednesday mixed couples, which gives me a chance to talk with the membership about the course and mention things they need to be doing to help out.”

However, it’s a different age for women in the turf profession. Some of the old stereotypes and professional biases are today relics of a bygone era, says Holliday, who studied turfgrass management at The Stockbridge School of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

“As a matter of fact, as a young superintendent going to local association meetings, I wasn’t able to attend the ones held at all-male clubs,” she says. “That was a challenge for me as a woman. But many of the stereotypes that existed when I began my career have since gone by the wayside, which is great.”

Over the past few years, golf course superintendents as a group have started to trend toward working until a certain age or a professional milestone has been reached, then to migrate into allied sales or some other type of associate role in the golf industry. For female superintendents, these career trends impact them the same as they do their male counterparts.

For most, Holliday says the ability to remain in golf course management and retire as a superintendent is a matter of choice.

“Some women may want to start a family and want a more balanced social life,” explains Holliday. “Some may want to work a regular work week and have weekends off, so some prefer the more social aspects of sales.

“Being a golf course superintendent can be extremely lonely at times – especially for women, because there are not that many of us to commiserate with,” she adds. “Absolutely, it is possible to retire as a superintendent if the circumstances align themselves.”

“As far as sales being an eventuality for me, I can say confidently that it’s a possibility - but so is moving to Africa and putting my agronomic knowledge to work for me,” says Reedy. “Truth is, I’m leaving myself open to anything with my primary goal being to siphon as much ‘life’ out of this short life as humanly possible.”

O’Dell has had the experience of having a career that has come full circle, going from tending turf, then into a sales position and finally back into golf course management with her position at Wawashkamo GC.

While more and more golf course superintendents are thrust into the spotlight as their community’s representative for responsible turf care, those critical of the industry could point that there aren’t enough women managing golf turf.

However, Holliday doesn’t believe the issue should be about filling quotas. Rather, the important question is whether the right person for the job is in the position and managing the turf.

“The industry only gets better when gender is not an issue and the right and dedicated people are put in place,” she says.

“The industry isn’t worse off for not having more female superintendents,” Reedy says.“It’s better for having some female superintendents.”

The disproportionate number of men to women in golf course management has less to do with closed doors or blocked career paths and more about women not entering into turf management.

“It seems particularly extreme in this industry,” Reedy adds. “But I think it has more to do with a general lack of women’s interest in this field rather than being purposefully singled out because they are women.”

Jim Black is assistant superintendent at Walden Country Club in Crofton, Md., and a frequent GCI contributor.

How do you measure up?

Features - Cover Story

GCI’s State of the Industry report gives you an exclusive benchmark for your maintenance operation.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following charts and graphs were meant to be stand-alone items in the print edition of the article. Their placement in the online article may not accurately correspond with the context of the surrounding text.

The numbers are in, and the raw data speaks clearly.

When it comes to interpretation of those numbers, I have used a combination of industry knowledge and communication with many in the industry to come up with my comments. While we all wish we had crystal balls that we could count on implicitly, guessing what the future will bring is difficult at best. By evaluating most of the responses of the survey, it was fairly easy to make comments based on those stats. Some of the questions reflected on where we have been and where we are going in the golf industry.

While the statistics may speak for themselves I have been asked to add some commentary to summarize the raw data that was received in the survey. With research of this depth and magnitude one could correlate the data endlessly. Since I don’t have that luxury – or editorial space – I’ll focus in on some of the research’s key topics.

I believe GCI readers will find that there are some interesting trends and certainly the business is changing. I like what I see and believe that this survey helps to make a case for slow and conservative recovery in the golf course maintenance side of the industry.

Are we making any money? There is no doubt that we have been in a recession for the last few years. This may be the single largest factor attributing to a decrease in rounds of golf and a negative number of golf course openings. A reasonable barometer of the health of golf would be the trends of profitability. Understand that some golf facilities are not operated with the goal to make a profit when interpreting the statistics.

Overall, around a third of respondents indicated that their facilities made money last year, another third indicated that they broke even and a third indicated they lost money last year. I do believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel and brighter days lie ahead for the golf industry. More than half of golf facilities either broke even or made a profit. Of those that lost money, it is hard to tell if they were supported by assessments or possibly that they were facilities that use the golf course as a marketing tool for a real estate development. Seeing the number of golf courses for sale I would think that more than a few are upside down at this point but things are improving.

This survey may not show how we got there and what we plan for the future but some of the questions reflected on facilities becoming more economically viable in the next few years. I truly believe there is optimism out there for a number of reasons. Golf facilities have reacted to the lower income by adjusting their expense side of the budget. This has directly affected many golf course maintenance budgets. Superintendents have stepped up to the plate as a part of the solution rather than being a part of the problem. Innovative maintenance methods have been implemented at many facilities allowing superintendents to make adjustments to the “new economic norm.” Couple this with aggressive marketing for players and membership and the feeling is very optimistic.

The survey indicated more than half of the respondents felt that their facilities would be more economically viable three years from now. The most common response as to the optimism was a combination of the overall improving U.S. economy and budget adjustments to the current economic climate.

It is my hope that with budget reductions at so many golf courses, the golfers understand that budgets cuts will surely have an impact on maintenance standards at any facility. It would be prudent to align maintenance standards and golfer expectations with budget adjustments that have been made to keep the clubs in the black.

METHODOLOGY
During the first quarter of 2012, Golf Course Industry created a State of the Industry survey, administered online via SurveyMonkey, to gauge the overall fiscal condition of the turf maintenance side of the industry, to benchmark superintendents’ budgets and spending trends and to chart other industry-wide tendencies as they relate to the business of golf course maintenance.

GCI had 750 superintendents from around the U.S. take the survey. As an added incentive to complete the survey, GCI committed to make a substantial donation to the Wee One Foundation, a charity group started in memory of Wayne Otto, CGCS, that helps superintendents and other turf professionals in need. GCI is donating $1,000 to Wee One for every 300 completed surveys it received.

Lastly, in addition to periodic email reminders to take the survey, GCI provided access to the State of the Industry questionnaire via a concentrated social media campaign that involved not only the GCI website and weekly enewsletter, but also Facebook and Twitter.

For the purpose of this report, when analyzing the data GCI editors broke down the findings between all facilities, public facilities and private facilities. When appropriate – for example, when reporting on budgeting trends – the data was broken down further between 18-hole facilities and 18-plus-hole facilities to provide a more accurate and comprehensive financial picture.

Budgets

Excluding water costs, what is your non-capital operations budget, including labor and overhead?

If you’ve reduced your budget in the last 3 years, what have been the cost-cutting measures?

What was your greatest 2012 budget challenge?

Editor’s note: “Other” included: irrigation repairs, improving turf conditions, weather, water issues, and a combination of all of the responses.

Budget. Several questions dealt with budgets and labor at the golf facilities. In most cases, the labor component of the golf course maintenance budget is the largest line item. It takes people to maintain a golf course.

Considering we have been in a recession, it is very positive that around a third of our golf courses saw an increase in budgets. If we combine those that had a flat budget then we saw almost two thirds of respondents had a flat or increasing budget versus budget decreases. While it may not be at all facilities, I do believe we may have hit the bottom and are on our way back up on a conservative trend.

Reductions in labor have helped to lean budgets. More than half of those surveyed have reduced full-time labor and nearly three-quarters have reduced their seasonal labor. While this survey does not indicate it, my travels have also shown me that various adjustments in the number of full-time versus part-time employees and scheduling for optimal productivity have been influential in operating in a much leaner manner.

Half of the respondents indicated that they deferred capital expenditures. This may be a reflection on the profitability of the facilities and also a reduction in member initiation fees that are often used to fund capital projects.

More than half stated their facilities were spending less on equipment. It is always a challenge for superintendents to make their equipment last longer than a reasonable expectation established in a replacement schedule. Deferred equipment purchases can affect operations with increases in parts, repairs and hours spent on maintenance. In the upcoming years, I do believe we will see purchases made on critical needs and also backed up by a business plan for a true return on investment for major items.

Chemical and fertilizer application expenses were cut at about half the facilities. Once again, superintendents are very creative people, and have made appropriate adjustments at their facilities. Some of this may have been looking into alternative products and methods for plant health and also pest control.

Nearly a third indicated that their golf facilities had rolled back golf course conditioning standards. This may be the trend as some are doing less overseeding and irrigating and cutting out any unnecessary programs for maintenance. It is imperative these reductions be communicated effectively and agreed upon by management, ownership and golfers. If not, it could result in a feeling that the golf course superintendent is doing a poor job due to changing playing conditions and the potential inability to meet golfer expectations.

Labor
For the majority of superintendents, the line item associated with labor (salaries, insurance, administrative, Workers’ Comp) on budget can account anywhere from half to three-quarters of an operational budget.
In light of the recent financial hardships that have plagued the economy and the golf industry, more than half of superintendents at both public and private reported having to cut their workforces. As a result, private facilities employ on average 10 full-time and 12 seasonal maintenance workers, while public courses have an average of six full-time and a dozen seasonal workers.

Operating expenses. Responses were pretty standard for the division of operating expenses overall. Water is a large variable depending on the part of the country and the source of water. Similarly, there were regional variances depending on grass types and climate for items like seed, chemicals and fertilizers.

When asked what the greatest challenges were for superintendents in the year ahead there were three primary responses: rising fuel costs, labor costs and equipment replacement.

It is difficult to manage fuel costs as so much is dependent on things outside of the superintendent’s control. It is also not a major budget item for most. However, there are many new options out there for the electric-powered equipment and alternative fuel sources. Looking to the future, it may be cost-effective to pay for a higher-priced piece of equipment that has greater energy savings in the long run.

Deferred equipment purchases are making it more difficult to manage a golf course. Increased repair costs and additional downtime for equipment has a cost that should be considered. There are a number of viable options for funding equipment replacement which might include leasing, buying used equipment or financing.

As stated earlier, labor is the key to budget management. Doing more with less is the way to stay in business. However, you can only reduce manpower so much before it starts to have a long-term negative impact on the golf course and golfing experience. We should all have caution that you can cut the fat out of the budget – but eventually you may start cutting into the bone.

Economic health
It’s no secret that the recent economic downturn has been difficult for the golf industry.

The good news, according to GCI research, is that about a third of superintendents report their golf course facilities made money in 2011.

The bad news, with the exception of private facilities (35 percent), less than a third broke even, and a third of private courses and more than 40 percent of public facilities lost money.

So what’s the long-term prognosis for fiscal health? More than half of superintendents predicted their facilities will be more economically viable in the next three years, with 54 percent of private clubs’ turf managers and 63 percent at public facilities holding on to a positive outlook. A little more than a third (39 percent) of those at private courses expected little to no change in three years, and less than a third at public courses agreed. Overall, less than 10 percent were pessimistic about their facilities’ economic viability.

We asked those supers with optimistic outlooks why they felt this was. Here are some of their responses:

I am trying to be optimistic. We have seen slow improvement for the past three years and our hope is that this trend will continue.

I feel we will continue to attract new members and that is our life blood.

We are receiving more interest in memberships.

We budgeted to break even.

I believe the industry will turn around, with price reductions clubs should attract new golfers, or old golfers who maybe stopped playing. Overall, I see courses making sacrifices to get more golfers through the doors, which should lead to an upswing in rounds per year.

Better economy and our company is growing, which allows us to get better prices from vendors.

Since I have been at this facility we have improved financially every year and I am confident we will continue to do so.

Our net membership numbers have held constant or slightly increased in the last three years. Many members that were lost were not that active and have been replaced with younger members that are utilizing the club’s facilities and services. Also, our business model projects cash flow to increase substantially in 2014 due to initiation fees becoming due in full and discounted monthly dues to end.

Lean times make you take a closer look at your operation which in turn requires you to make changes to streamline your operation thus producing the same product but at a lower cost.

Positioning our financial picture for maximum performance with the least amount of expense.

Capital Projects
At this time and heading into 2012, golf course facilities seem more willing to focus capital spending on replacing and or updating/upgrading turf equipment over other expenditures, such as course renovation, irrigation upgrades and infrastructure additions. Around 16 percent of all facilities indicated they would place a primary capital spending focus in the coming year on golf cart fleet upgrades, lake restoration and dredging, facility landscaping projects and the addition of driving ranges.

Overall, private facilities supporting more than 18 holes indicate they will be spending the most – an average of nearly $445,000, while public, 18-hole facilities would be spending the least – an average of around $70,400.

Generic Vs. Name-brand products

Superintendents are nearly split about their preference between using name-brand formulation and generic products. While a preference for name-brand products won out with turf managers at private and public facilities, the margin between the two was not too great and never exceeded a 10 percent difference.
For the survey, we defined a “generic” product as an off-patent product sold as a less-expensive alternative to an original formula.

Capital expenditures. It would be difficult to have any conclusion regarding responses to the amount of capital expenditures. The numbers ran the gambit from no expenditures to significant golf course renovations. More important was the percentage of areas under consideration for spending capital dollars.

Less than a quarter indicated they would have course renovation as their primary focus while more than half indicated equipment purchases. This all falls hand-in-hand with my prior comments that you can only put a hold on equipment purchases for so long before the fleet starts to fail. Several years of not purchasing equipment can take twice that amount of time to play catch up unless things move along at an accelerated pace. Looks like good news for those that are selling equipment.

Bruce Williams serves as principal for both Bruce Williams Golf Consulting and Executive Golf Search. He is a frequent GCI contributor.

Overseeding
Most superintendents do not factor in overseeding into their overall seed budgets. In fact, around two-thirds keep overseeding costs as a separate budget items.
So what’s the cost for overseeding? Turf managers at public facilities with greater than 18 holes budget the most at around $22,000. In contrast, private 18-hole facilities spend just under $6,000.

Equipment

Art of Engineering?

Features - Equipment

GCI’s Monroe Miller takes a close look at the methodology behind backlapping and blade sharpening.

Sights and sounds are often giveaways to a place of business. From sparks and the smoke of stick welders in a machine shop to the clanging and rattling of stanchions and drinking cups in a dairy barn, the familiarity of either place couldn’t be mistaken.

So it is with a golf course shop – the smell of gas and diesel fuel, the unmistakable aroma of grass clippings and the sound of backlapping machines at work left no doubt about our places of business.

Maybe I should say, “was.” Stick welders are used, but less often than MIG and TIG welders, dairy barns are now usually free stalls with no stanchions or drinking cups and, as I have noticed in my travels around the Midwest, I don’t hear backlapping machines at work as often as I used to.

I always enjoyed the soothing sound of lapping compound on reel and knife, and was anxious to put really sharp mowers on our golf playing surfaces. Sometimes a stone would nick a reel or a buttress root would bend an edge of a bedknife, and the lapping machines came out for the repair. It started with a clickity-clack, but as the dinged-up reel or bedknife was matched, it became a rhythmic, almost harmonic sound. And it seemed backlapping was going on a couple days a week.

More than a few times I have wondered why backlapping seems less prevalent than I remember. I figured a lot of it out by thinking of the obvious. There was a time we mowed fairways with triplex greens mowers (we had the Jake GK 62s) and triplexes like the Ransomes Motor 180s. We had to use seven machines to get the job done – and we mowed fairways on a daily basis with the grass catchers. Why we ever did that is the subject for another conversation! We always had a couple of triplexes in reserve as backups or for tournaments and simultees. Triplex mowers at that time also cut greens and tees – four more machines. Roughs were nearly universally mowed with reel mowers – we had 10 gangs dedicated to that.

No wonder we backlapped so much! We also had five National triplexes to cut green and tee surrounds, and another triplex cut the intermediate rough/fairway collar. As with nearly everyone else, triplex cutters were used for green collars and approaches, too. It added up to nearly 70 reels at work on a given day, and they all required at least some attention during the season. Granted, not all reels were backlapped every week or even each month, but enough of them required close enough attention that we went through buckets of lapping compound to keep cutting edges sharp. I recall hearing about big clubs in the Chicago area that backlapped their greens mowers every day – it filled me with envy!

Let’s face it, no superintendent plans carefully and dutifully to execute a turf management program that could be diminished by something as simple as a dull mower. Mostly, you can rehab a dull edge fairly quickly with this low-technology procedure. That is why we did it. Backlapping also allowed for really close inspection of the cutter, and finding a loose reel bearing or oil leak at an early stage avoided problems. That was certainly helpful and helped justify the time commitment.

But it took a lot of time. Not all machines had the capability to run the reels in reverse while still in the frame of the mower. Units had to be removed, cleaned and attached to a Simplex or Foley backlapping machine. Some time was saved when you could leave them on the machine and let the power plant run them backwards. There were problems, but it was a fair trade-off.

Changes in equipment, culture and economy have diminished backlapping today relative to the 1970s and 1980s. Reel mowers have almost disappeared from our golf course roughs, taken over by high-tech rotaries that provide a superb finished turf product. The same is true for green and tee surrounds – rotaries are available that move quickly and mow well. Plant growth regulators have played an important role in the management of fine golf turf, and there is simply no need on most courses to mow fairways as often.

Rolling of putting surfaces has eliminated the need for double cutting for many superintendents. The result is fewer machines and fewer hours on them. Financial constraints in the past five to seven years have had a huge impact on how we manage courses. Many practices we would like to use are done less frequently; count backlapping among them. Prioritization puts it farther down the list of things to do.

Sand topdressing as a cultural practice really took off in the 1970s, and despite the many different techniques superintendents use to move the sand down to around the plant crowns, dull mowers were always part of it. So was backlapping to get a sharp edge back. Jeff Thomas, veteran equipment manager at Pine Hills CC, says if it wasn’t for sand topdressing he could keep a sharp edge on today’s greens mowers most of the season with careful adjustment and an occasional, light face grind.

My instinct tells me that various practices like grooming, brooming and brushing also move sand to the surface and shorten the life of a sharp edge. It is the sand that causes the dull edge that creates the need to bring it back to sharp.

Almost everyone I talked to about this topic agreed that backlapping is used less than in years past. On a recent trip to the Twin Cities I stopped in at the Toro headquarters to get a manufacturer’s take on it. Scott Coffin, senior engineer of commercial products, pointed out that mower designers now use high-hardness materials – better steel for both reels and bedknives. “For some applications we are actually using tool steel because it holds an edge longer,” Scott says. To me, that spells less backlapping.

Not many have seen as much turf equipment as David Legg. He came to the U.S. from England to introduce Ransomes turf equipment to North America, spent years working from Jacobsen’s factory and now travels for a major Midwest Jake distributor. Legg echoes the significance of engineering improvements and adds that the sophistication and ease of on-board backlapping amplifies the notion we are backlapping less overall.

To Jeff Thomas’ point, we can see design improvements in cutting units that make it easier to adjust the reel and bedknife clearance, whether it’s light contact, 0.001-inch or 0.002-inch clearance. It takes less time, is more accurate and the units hold the adjustment better, resulting in a reduced need to backlap. Cliff Henning, the equipment manager at Kohler’s Whistling Straits, says newer and inexperienced turf equipment techs tend to backlap more until they acquire the feel and art of reel and bedknife adjustment. Toro’s Don Treu professes that “in a perfect world, there would be no backlapping.” But he quickly adds that there is no perfect world in our turf universe, and the cost of engineering such a feature would be prohibitive.

Even the individual blades of a reel have been milled to give a built-in relief to the blade so the land area (which contacts the bedknife) doesn’t get so wide, creating more friction and a shorter backlapping interval. Also, sometime notice how engineers have made it easier to remove a cutting unit from its carriage frame for backlapping when it is required.

Anyone my age can testify at length about the improvement of lapping compounds themselves and how they have shortened the time requirement to backlap a cutting unit. These improvements are often overlooked and minimized, although they shouldn’t.

Whenever you talk about contemporary backlapping, the topic that cannot be avoided is spin grinding. There is a sense that many cutting units that in the past were backlapped to a sharp edge are now put in a spin grinder and actually sharpened to the leading edge. I was telling someone about my past envy of a course that could actually backlap greens mowers every day, and he said there are golf courses that now spin grind those mowers every day because it is so easy. In fact, Whistling Straits’ Henning believes it is a safe bet that courses owning spin grinders do less backlapping simply because of the ease of spin grinding.

Foley United’s vice president Jim Letourneau emphasizes, “backlapping as a grinding process is gone, but as a preventative process it is alive and well!” He adds that if a reel blade is worn and little relief remains, lapping is ineffective and time-consuming – it should take five minutes or so to backlap a cutting unit to a sharp edge. Any more than that should require a trip to the grinder.

Potentially, there are as many different ways to keep an edge on a cutting unit as there are golf courses. Some only spin grind, some only backlap and there is every combination in between. Toro’s Don Treu has observed that backlapping is close to religion in some shops, and any more changes will come slowly. Letourneau attributes that, to some extent, to what he calls “training by tradition.” It is natural for some equipment managers to instruct subordinates in methods and techniques that have been successful for years, which doesn’t fully account for changes in technology. It is always hard to argue against a successful practice.

But in the final analysis, superintendents and their equipment managers figure out the best way to keep their cutting units sharp. Fortunately, they have both history and technology working to help make those decisions.

Monroe Miller is the author of “The Monroe Doctrine” and is a frequent GCI contributor.

System shake up

Features - Irrigation

To overhaul or not to overhaul? That is the question many superintendents have asked themselves about their failing irrigation systems. Are they throwing good money after bad or will minor repairs correct issues and save money?

For Eric Richardson, superintendent at Essex County Club in Manchester, Mass., the decision was a no-brainer: a new system was needed.

Entering his sixth season at Essex County Club, Richardson inherited a traditional single-row irrigation system with impact heads. It was the first automated system the club had ever installed.

“There may not have been an issue that the old system did not have, from faulty grounding, to a lack of pressure, poor pipe sizing, faulty pumps, faulty fittings (mostly galvanized), stuck heads, lack of coverage, etc.,” he says. “The club was spending $20,000 annually just to keep the system semi-operational.

“There were no improvements that could have made the system adequate,” he adds. “It desperately needed a complete overhaul.”

A triple-row system – with part circles on the perimeter and full circle heads down the middle – now graces the fairways. The part circles are used to water some of, but not all, the mowed rough, providing a sporadic pattern allowing the farther edges to fade out into the tall rough.

According to Richardson, the design gets really interesting around the greens. There is a total of seven acres of collar-height turf around the greens, with expansions to come. To meet the different watering needs, the system was designed with four watering segments around the greens – greens surfaces, collars, perimeter roughs and bunkers. Each green surface zone has around five valve in-head sprinklers (Toro 835S and 855S) while the other segments consist of multiple Hunter I-42s, Toro 590Gs and Toro 835Ss.

“This allowed us to effectively control every drop of water applied to the golf course and saved a large number of man hours by significantly decreasing the amount of hand watering we do on collars,” he says.

The irrigation system at Overbrook Golf Club in Villanova, Pa., was not considered old (16 years), but was outdated and beginning to break down, according to superintendent Tom Gosselin.

“The real reasons for the replacement are the changes in the philosophy of water usage and the technical advances in the systems themselves,” Gosselin says. “Our old system was standard for when it was installed and it had adequate coverage. The glaring fault was that it was not very ‘green’ when it came to water usage.”

Water usage is a major concern because Overbrook purchases a large portion of its water. Also, they were unable take advantage of many technical advances, being limited by the physical system in the ground.

To address its issues, Overbrook installed a Toro system equipped with Lynx software. The new system is five rows through the fairways, ins and outs on the greens and has very good coverage in the rough.

“We adapted to the philosophy of more heads, less water,” Gosselin says. “This system gives us the capability to target-water our specific needs without wasting water. It also allows us to give more consistent playing conditions to our members.”

From a technical standpoint, the software breaks down a complex system to a simple and easy format so Gosselin’s team can take advantage of its capabilities, he adds.

Brian Vinchesi, president of Irrigation Consulting, has seen control and sprinkler technology greatly expand in the last five years, alone. With options such as soil moisture sensors and pump station monitors, these innovations have made systems more interactive. There are programs on the Internet that allow superintendents to monitor irrigation and pump stations, which can be controlled from a smartphone or iPad.

As for improvements on the horizon...

“There are always improvements,” Vinchesi says. “But with sprinklers, I’m not sure how much better they can get. They’ve gotten so good. When you think you’ve seen it all, something else comes out.”

When discussing irrigation issues with superintendents, Vinchesi weighs the options between a total overhaul of the system versus specific improvements. Replacing worn fittings is expensive, so it may be cheaper to replace the entire system. Swapping out the controller, upgrading the pump station or replacing sprinklers are other possibilities.

“You can certainly look at improvements, but you’ve got to look at the long and short terms,” he says. “Why spend a lot of money now if you’re going to replace the system in five years?”

Kevin Redfern, director of grounds at the Governor’s Club in Chapel Hill, N.C., brought in Vinchesi to take a look at the current irrigation system and to work with him on what’s needed in the future.

The main lines at the Governors Club are 20 years old and the epoxy-coated fittings have been depositing rust and debris, which leads to clogged heads. All the sprinkler heads were replaced in 2005, but something else is needed.

“At this point a total renovation would be the best,” he says. “However, with the economy we have, large improvements are more visible for the near future. Infrastructure items are always the hardest sell for superintendents.”

Considering system overhauls can easily be in the neighborhood of $2 million, going to the board with a request cannot be an easy task. For Richardson, the process took years, starting with a call to Vinchesi for an evaluation. With his report in hand, the board was approached.

“Once they read and comprehended the evaluation, it was obvious the need for a new system was there,” Richardson says. “This started a process of countless meetings and conversations that eventually lead to them approving the project.”

It took three years of work before any construction took place on the property and it ended up being the largest project in the club’s long history, which dates back to 1893.

Adding to some possible difficulties getting a new irrigation system approved is the fact that the money spent isn’t likely to be recouped. According to Vinchesi, based solely on water savings, the return on investment is not there — courses should do it for improved playing conditions. If better conditions sell more rounds, memberships or associated real estate, then the cost-benefit becomes much more clear.

“Do your homework, then do it again,” he says. “Know your property and don’t get extravagant, but keep up with the times. You may not get another chance to do this again.”

He suggested showing your management dollars and how the course will save money by using a new system.

“My system had just been let go and there were way too many things to fix ... and at a very slow rate,” he says. “We were spending in excess of $50,000 to $60,0000 per year just in repairs trying to keep it together. With just the pump house renovations, heads replaced and a control system put in, I am spending $13,000 to $14,000, so you do the math on the payback. It works.”

Richardson stresses the importance of keeping accurate and complete records.

“Document, document, document,” he says. “Track all your irrigation expenses and, more importantly, track your labor. Make sure you have something tangible to show the board or owner.

“Make sure you track how many man hours you are spending on repairs and the man hours spent unnecessarily hand watering or setting up roller base sprinklers,” he added. “Do not forget to track your own hours. A big selling point here was that my time was being monopolized by the irrigation system or lack thereof.”

Richardson also suggested making a pile of the irrigation parts that have been replaced and taking a picture because “a visual aid is better than any words or document.”

Furthermore, he recommended visiting golf courses in the area that are in the middle of an installation. He visited four different sites with the club president, greens chairman and other prominent members.

“They were all amazed by the process and reported back to the membership on how little disruption there was,” he says. “This helped narrow the decision process into one that was solely financial.”

Lastly, hire a consultant.

“Brian steered me in the correct direction on multiple occasions,” Richardson says of Vinchesi. “Consultants have information that will be necessary to properly bid, permit and design the system. They can set realistic numbers and time tables.”

While Overbrook’s system was completed so late in the season that its membership really hasn’t had an opportunity to experience the improved conditions, Richardson claims success.

“The new system has allowed us to provide a firmer golf course, while managing disease and stress more effectively,” Richardson says. “According to the membership, the golf course has never looked or played better. The members were all amazed at the installation process, particularly with how small of a footprint the contractors, Leibold Irrigation Inc., had on the golf course and how clean and neat the installation process was in general.”

Rob Thomas is a Cleveland-based freelance writer and a frequent GCI contributor.

Dealing with Poa push-up greens

Features - Course Maintenance

The turf team at Blue Hill Country Club troubleshoots the thatch and soil issues that were hampering their greens.

Four years ago I was hired at Blue Hill Country Club, a 27-hole facility that was constructed in 1925. The club was the host of the 1956 PGA Championship and hosted an LPGA event for several years.

After evaluating the property, I realized that there were some significant thatch issues on some of the greens, as well as some very heavy soils 4 inches below the surface. The combination of the two resulted in greens with severe isolated dry spots, inconsistent playing surfaces and poor drainage after high amounts of precipitation.

The first thing we had to do is remove as much thatch as possible, creating some cavities for air and water to move through. That first year we core aerated three times, twice with 5⁄8-inch tines on a 2-inch by 2-inch spacing and a ¼-inch core aerating. We also performed a 5⁄16-inch needle tine three times throughout the season and deep-tined with 10-inch deep ½-inch tines in the fall.

It was a drastic change in aeration than what the members were used to. In the past, they were only allowed to pull cores one to two times per year with varied deep tine in the fall. They relied more on the hydroject to fracture the soil profiles underneath.

Jason Adams used photos of the soil profiles throughout the course to convince the greens committee of the importance of draining the greens and incorporating sand into the profiles.

After the third year of this program, the top six inches of the soil profile showed dramatic improvement, as well as the playable consistency of the greens. It was now time to attack the deeper depths of the soil profile.

During the early summer of 2009 – with record heat in the northeast and a July rainfall – several greens at Blue Hill CC became severely stressed with no place for the moisture in the root zone to go. The soil profile was saturated with 90- to 100-degree heat. The result was significant annual bluegrass loss on about seven greens on the course. They just couldn’t dry down.

The No. 9 green, which had has been notorious for being a problem green, suffered the worst that summer with a 60 percent loss in turf. The No. 9 is one of those greens that has poor drainage with heavy soils underneath, sits in a pocket on the property and was surrounded by trees.

During my second season, we had removed 20 large pine trees from behind the green and followed that up with removing six large oak trees on the southeast side of the green to encourage the morning sunlight.

Once we had recovered from the summer, it was time to sell the membership on modifying the lower 6 inches of our profiles.

The first thing I did was to compile a series of photos of the soil profiles from every green on the golf course. The photos were put into a PowerPoint presentation along with “drill-and-fill” photos from Norfolk Golf Club, my previous club. I described the importance of draining the greens and the incorporation of sand into the profiles.

It was decided by the green committee and the board of directors that this was an important step in the conditioning of Blue Hill Country Club. That fall we performed the drill-and-fill process on 10 of the 18 greens on the course.

The results this summer from our “problem greens” were dramatic. The greens rooted and drained better than they ever had in the four seasons I have served as superintendent of Blue Hill Country Club. It was decided that we would continue this process on all 19 greens on the main course for the next four seasons.

This fall we completed our second application of drill-and-fill on the greens. Approximately 40 tons of sand was drilled into 8,500 square feet of greens. We hired an outside company to perform the process, which cost the club $8,500. Blue Hill then provided the labor to keep the machine hoppers filled during the process.

This process is very labor-intensive because of the loading process and the height of the hoppers. It is also imperative that kiln-dried sand be used during the process for easy flow through the machines. We had a staff of 20 guys who all took turns loading 5-gallon buckets of sand, hauling them to the machines, loading carts and stationed on the machines filling the hoppers.

While it doesn’t sound like a difficult or taxing process to complete, after about the fourth or fifth green everyone’s shoulders and biceps start to get a little sore. That’s where you tag out and perform another duty for a while.

After each green is completed, we push off the remainder of sand and soil that is left behind, the greens are dragged with a broom and then blown off. The greens come out pretty clean and smooth after all is said and done.

Our PGA Golf Professional, Lou Katsos, played the following day and was surprised how well the greens rolled. Lou has been a huge part of the success in all of our practices by relaying the importance of what we are trying to accomplish to the members.

The positives of this process are that we are starting to modify the soils in the old push-up greens so they can perform up to the members’ expectations and have a fighting chance with Mother Nature. The negatives are that it is an expensive process – about $17,000 if you use bagged, dried sand. In addition, you have to have a lot of labor to complete the process efficiently.

Moving forward we will begin to incorporate the process of the dryject. This process will also help to introduce sand a deeper depths and fracture the lower levels almost helping to “mix” the soil profiles.